Alabama

Football team blows out Gardner-Webb at home

Dustin Taliaferro threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns in a rout of Gardner-Webb University.

Allison HubbardSports Writer

The Samford football team soundly defeated Gardner-Webb at Seibert
Stadium on Saturday 41-14. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 2-2 on
the season, and Gardner-Webb drops to 1-3.

“What a great team effort, from the coaches to the players to the
scout team guys,” Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said. “I was as
worried about this team all week as I have been about any we’ve played.
They are a talented football team. We needed to come out and play well.”

Senior quarterback and business major Dustin Taliaferro led Samford
in offense with 290 passing yards and three touchdowns. Kelsey Pope,
Fabian Truss and Chris Cephus, all sophomores, were accredited with
touchdowns as well.

On the other side of the ball, Aaron Bethune, a senior, led the
Bulldogs with seven tackles and a fumble recovery. Junior Alvin Hines
and junior Keith Shoulders each had seven Samford tackles as well.

On the opening Gardner-Webb drive, Samford forced a punt, which was
blocked by sophomore Phillip Ketcham and recovered by freshman Stanley
Robinson, who returned it for a touchdown. Place-kicker, Cameron Yaw, a
junior nursing major, made the PAT to put Samford up 7-0.

“It felt great to block that punt on the opening drive.” Ketcham
said, “The coaches have been on me about blocking one, so it was really
nice to come through for the team. I really felt like it helped set the
tone for the team. A blocked punt can really help boost the confidence
of a team and also demoralize the opponents morale.”

On Samford’s next possession, they put another touchdown on the board
when Taliaferro hit Pope for a 60-yard score. Yaw got the extra point
to put the Bulldogs up 14-0.

Gardner-Webb fought back with just under five minutes left in the
first quarter and narrowed the gap to 14-7. Samford quickly put up a
27-yard field goal to put the score at 17-7.

In the second quarter, Yaw made another field goal from 20-yards and
increased the Samford lead to 20-7. Taliaferro added to the lead when he
hit Cephus for another touchdown. Yaw’s extra point made the score
27-7.

On their second drive of the second half, Truss scored off of a
17-yard run. Yaw made the PAT to increase Samford’s lead to 34-7, the
only points in the third quarter.

It took freshman wide receiver, Kelvin Clay just five seconds in the
fourth quarter to score off of a seven-yard pass from Taliaferro as
Samford led Gardner-Webb by a score of 41-14.

Samford takes on Furman University in Greenville, S.C. this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CDT.

Since their move to the Southern Conference in 2008, the Bulldogs have never defeated the Paladins on the football field.

“The team is really looking forward to playing Furman this year
because we haven’t ever beaten them,” Ketcham said. “We just have to go
out and prepare everyday in practice this week for Saturday’s game. If
we execute on offense, defense and special teams, I know we will like
the results.”